English

Proper noun

King Billy

1. (Australia, obsolete) Imaginary king of the Australian aboriginal people.
   • 1901, Henry Lawson, A Bush Publican's Lament, republished in Children of the Bush, Gutenberg eBook #7065,

     An' supposen Ole King Billy an' his ole black gin comes round at holiday time and squats on the verander, […] .

2. Tasmanian aboriginal man William Lanne (c.1835-1869) believed to have been the last Tasmanian aboriginal man.^[1]
3. Any one of various other aboriginal men at times referred to as King Billy.^[1]
4. (Ireland, Scotland, informal) King William III of England.

References

1. 1 2 “King Billy”, entry in 1970, Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, 1979, ISBN 0-7018-1309-1, page 333.